Roland to guard Price: A&M defensive specialist Derrick Roland will guard Connecticut's A.J. Price in Saturday's game. Roland held BYU's Lee Cummard to 6-of-14 shooting in the first round. He held Texas' A.J. Abrams to 3-of-12 shooting, including 1 of 7 on 3-pointers in an 81-66 regular-season victory.
Roland, who made the All-Big 12 defensive team, always guards the opponent's top perimeter player.
"He's been very important to us," A&M head coach Mark Turgeon said. "Of course, he'll guard [A.J.] Price tomorrow. He does a good job. What he's done is, he's really matured. He plays with a lot more intelligence on defense now, plays most of the time without fouling. He guards the screens the right way most of the time. Takes a lot of pride in it."
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Free throws the key: "You know, the most amazing thing to me about UConn and the season they're having is their free throws," Turgeon said. "They've shot 800 free throws, 815 throws going into yesterday, and their opponents have only shot 388. That's simply amazing. We have to figure out a way to stay out of foul trouble against those two bigs and try to get them in foul trouble, which they don't do. I think that's the reason they've had the year they've had this year."
Turgeon said he'll play 6-foot-9 freshman David Loubeau more to combat UConn's size.
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Loving Philly: Turgeon was an assistant for the NBA's Philadelphia 76ers under Larry Brown. "I love this city," he said. "I don't think there's any question. I spent some time here with Coach Brown. One of the best years of my life. So I've been bragging about the city a lot, pretzels, cheese steaks, all that stuff."
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Been a long time: This is the third meeting between the two. Connecticut had a 69-63 victory in Storrs, Conn., during the 1982-83 season. The Aggies beat the Huskies 92-81 in the opening game of the 1989 Great Alaska Shootout. ... UConn head coach Jim Calhoun is 802-341 in his 37th year, including 554-204 (23rd year) with the Huskies. He is 0-1 vs. A&M. Turgeon is 202-139 (11th year) overall, 49-20 (2nd year) at A&M and has never faced UConn.
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Good against the Big East lately: A&M is 5-10 all-time against current Big East teams, but has won three straight -- 75-72 at DePaul in the second round of the 2005 NIT, 66-58 against Syracuse in the first round of the 2006 NCAA Tournament, and 72-69 against Louisville in the 2007 NCAAs.
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In good company: A&M is one of six teams to win its first-round game in each of the last four years along with Memphis, North Carolina, Pittsburgh, UCLA and Texas. ... A&M is making is 10th NCAA Tournament appearance (8-10).
-- Eagle Staff Report
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Posted by: miller58 On: 3/21/2009
Comment Title: TURGEON'S LOUSY RECRUITING?
My personal opinions:_____Big 12 recruiting is:_____Rick Barnes 2 five star commits;_____ Scott Drew 1 five star commit;_____Bill self 1 four star commit;_____and Mark Turgeon at 0 commits?_____miller58